Barbara Gail Knox

KNOX, BARBARA GAILFebruary 13, 1932-March 11, 2011Barbara Gail Edwards was born in the country town of Tipton, Oklahoma on February 13, 1932 to Emmitt Cecil Edwards and Ernestine Thelma Edwards. As a child she earned her spending money by collecting one egg a day from the chicken coop and converting that to cash at the local dime store. At the beginning of WWII the family moved to Sunset Beach, CA where Emmitt worked in the shipyards. Her sister Joyce remembers that her mother cried when they got to Sunset Beach and said it seemed like the land of milk and honey after the dust bowls of Oklahoma. Barbara first attended school at the junior high in Huntington Beach. Later when the family moved to Long Beach, she graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School where she was voted best dancer in her class. After graduation, she lived in France with her first husband and two young sons for several years. At the end of her first marriage, she moved to California and went to work as a teller with the Home Savings Company of America. She eventually worked her way up to the position of Vice President and General Manager of one of the company’s most prestigious branches on Ocean Blvd in Long Beach. Barbara was very active in the community and was the first woman to be elected President of her local Rotary Club.She met her husband, Bob, taking dance lessons at a recreation room in a bowling alley in Westminster, California. The students were supposed to rotate but after a short time Bob and Barbara quit rotating and always danced together. After retirement, Bob and Barbara traveled extensively taking cruises to Scandinavia, the Mediterranean and Alaska. Later they purchased a motor home and traveled throughout the United States and Canada going as far north as Banff and as far east as Prince Edward Island. Barbara is survived by her husband, Judge Robert A. Knox of the Orange County Superior Court (Ret.) her two sons, Robert and Brian McConnell, a grandson, Brian Douglas McConnell Jr. and two great grand children, Jordan and Joshua; also her sister Joyce Moore; niece Brandy DeClue and her husband, Shelby; grand niece, Sydney DeClue; niece Shelly Fitch and her husband Jeff; grand niece Nicole, grand nephews Dane and Jason and great grand nephews Dylan and Cameron and great grand nieces Isabella and Emma. She is further survived by her cousin Berta Finneran and her husband Joseph, their children Brandon, Brad, Brian and Baron, grandchildren Conor, Brian, Keenan, Cullen and Kirra, Brooke and Avery. Barbara also is survived by her cousin, Donald Baker of Columbus, Georgia. Surviving step children include Bob Knox and his wife Roberta and their children Alex, Gillian and Marissa; Sherrill Erickson and her husband Neil and their children Aaron and Sarah; John Knox and his wife Almita; Tracy Knox; Stacy Bonomi and her husband Joel; Jennifer Fix and her husband Kenny.In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the American Lung Associate at www.lungusa.org/donate.